Seoul shares drop over 3% on looming tariff war, Nvidia slump; won at 3-week low.
Korean stocks tumbled over 3 percent Friday, dragged down by a possible tariff war threat by U.S. President Donald Trump and a slump in artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia. The local currency fell sharply to a three-week low against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 88.97 points, or 3.39 percent, to close at 2,532.78, following a 0.73 percent drop on the previous day. It is the lowest closing since Feb. 10, when the KOSPI finished at 2,521.27.
Trade volume was heavy at 573.3 million shares worth 15 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with decliners far outnumbering gainers 832 to 94. Foreign and institutional selling drove the plunge, dumping a net 1.5 trillion won and 615.9 billion won, respectively. Individuals, however, scooped up a net 2 trillion won.
Overnight in the United States, Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada, rekindling fears over a possible tariff war across the world. On Wall Street, shares of Nvidia tumbled 8.5 percent as its better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings failed to revive investor sentiment on AI, which has been cooled by China’s DeepSeek.
In Seoul, semiconductor and information technology (IT) shares were among the biggest losers. Chip giant Samsung Electronics sank 3.2 percent to 54,500 won, and SK hynix, a key supplier to Nvidia, slumped 4.52 percent to 190,200 won.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, ended higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 2.6 basis points to 2.566 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds lost 3.4 basis points to 2.646 percent. (Yonhap).
Source: KOREATIMES
